CHANGE YOUR
MIND OR STAY OUT
April 5,
1998 pm
MF Blume
Gene 3:2-6 And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the
tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and
that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one]
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat.
Gene 3:22-24 And the LORD God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest
he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden,
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and
he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Reve 4:2-3 And immediately I was
in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and [one] sat on the
throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone:
and [there was] a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
Reve 4:6 And before the throne
[there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal:...
Adam and the woman were thrown from the Garden of Eden where they fellowshipped
with God.
- EDEN means "PLEASURE"
- PARADISE.
- Paul said he was caught
up into the third heaven, or PARADISE in 2 Cor 12:2-4.
- HEAVEN is PARADISE or EDEN.
HEAVEN IS WHERE MAN BELONGS
- God created man and placed
him in the Garden of Eden.
- Man was cast out due to
sin.
- Jesus came to bring us
Home.
- And we see Heaven, with the throne of God and the sea
of glass veritably empty and vacant except for some symbolic items as the
seven lamps and the 24 elders and four beasts.
- These are not important
in our thoughts for tonight.
- But, veritably, Heaven
is empty.
- Because we are not home.
- But in Revelation 7 the
picture is much different.
Reve 7:9 After this I beheld,
and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could
number,
of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
- A multitude no man could
number is on that sea of glass before the throne!
- This is EDEN.
- I know that, because only
EDEN had a tree of life, and we read the sea of glass is where the tree of
life is.
Reve 22:1-2 And he shewed me a pure
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of
God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side
of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner
of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree
[were] for the healing of the nations.
- So we see and empty EDEN,
since man sinned and had to leave, and an Eden filled with people no man could
number.
- Between Rev. 4 and Rev
7 something happened!
Reve 5:1-2 And I saw in the right
hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside,
sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud
voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
Reve 5:5-7 And one of the elders
saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of
David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts,
and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth
into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand
of him that sat upon the throne.
Reve 5:9 And they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for
thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation;
- Jesus prevailed and entered
Eden to the throne, and took the book and it was said that He redeemed them
to God BY HIS BLOOD.
This is a very important point.
- Adam was kicked out of the
Garden because he took the knowledge of good and evil.
- And he could not eat of
the tree of life if he ate knowledge of good and evil.
- JESUS' BLOOD FIXED THAT
UP, THOUGH.
Now, do you think for a moment
that God would let them stay in the Garden if they went and ate the fruit
of the knowledge of good and evil again?
- Not on your life!
- I declare to you tonight
that having the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in you is having a
wrong mind-set, or thinking process, because it involves KNOWLEDGE.
- There is incorrect thinking
going on here.
- If you do not understand
the way of LIFE, you will not enter the Garden!
- If you do not CHANGE YOUR
MIND, then you will have to stay out!
Adam ate the fruit of the knowledge
of good and evil.
- Before this, Adam did not
know the difference between good and evil.
- He did not know good, because
Good is a word that differentiates from evil.
- He was innocent!
- He probably seen nothing
different between God and the devil.
- He did not have knowledge
of good and evil.
- But suddenly his whole
mind process was changed and he began thinking entirely different, for he
suddenly knew good and evil.
- It changed AUTOMATICALLY.
- EVER SINCE, everyone has
been born with this way of thinking.
- THEN GRACE did not come
along until 4,000 years afterwards when Jesus came.
- And GRACE is a totally
different way of thinking.
- It has nothing to do with
the knowledge of good and evil.
- (A mind that thinks in
the knowledge of good and evil will start getting lost here, but I must preach
GRACE and you will understand if you really are hungry for LIFE from God.)
- But though Adam's mind
was changed instantly from innocence to knowledge of good and evil, we are
not changed in our minds instantly from knowledge of good and evil to GRACE.
- Until we get do start thinking
in terms of GRACE, and change our minds from the knowledge of good and evil,
we will never get back into that place of glory with God.
Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus:
- LET, LET, LET
- You MUST ALLOW THIS THINKING
TO START in you.
- God will not force it on
you like the devil forced knowledge of good and evil on the first couple.
How did Jesus redeem us?
- By telling us what good
things we must do, and what evil things we must not do?
- No.
- He redeemed us By HIS BLOOD.
- NOTHING good we did, nor
evil we did not do.
- GRACE saved us.
"KNOWLEDGE-of-good-and-evil"
type thinking makes you assume you are the guy that must save yourself.
- But GRACE said that it is
not of works, lest any man should boast, but it is God's works.
I want to be in the Garden and
taste the LIFE of God, the BIBLE, God's word of truth, and enjoy eternal life,
but if I have some fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in me, then I
am blocked from it all.
- Adam cannot enter the Garden
and eat of the tree of life because he has the fruit of the knowledge of good
and evil in him.
If you try to think in the terms
of knowledge of good and evil then you are never going to understand the GRACE
OF GOD.
- If you are struggling with
your new life then THIS is the problem.
- If you are wondering if
you can ever make it if you choose to get saved, then THIS is your problem.
- Let me introduce to you
the Kingdom of God that is not based upon the knowledge of good and evil,
but UPON GRACE.
WRONG IDEAS:
- For example: "I cannot understand
how to be strong as a christian."
- So the person tries to
read more bible or go do more good things and help the poor, and perhaps
God will start blessing more with victory. NO!
- Such people try to put
it all together and make it work better.
- But it does not work.
- And if they do not learn
about GRACE, then they will keep on trying, forever thinking they are not
trying hard enough.
- They fill their minds with
religious laws, and never understand GRACE.
- GRACE is more than being
freed from going to hell to go to heaven.
- GRACE is a way of thinking
that we must use to deal with things now in NEW TESTAMENT LIFE.
- It is a totally different
way of thinking.
- But because we lived so
many years with good and evil mentality, and handled everything by that, we
keep on thinking that way when we are saved, and we wonder why we are not
excelling in the kingdom.
- Some people never even
get saved because they do not even get the littlest understanding of Grace
that saves us.
- IF YOU WANT A REAL CHRISTIAN
LIFE, then you must understand what GRACE is.
- You must change your thinking
from good and evil to GRACE.
- Most think Church is a
place where you are told what is right and what is wrong.
- And THAT is such backward
thinking.
One man was joking about church
and saying, "I suppose you are going to preach Sunday about the "Evils of
Drinking."
- He is a sinner, and all
people in the world think the same way.
- Knowledge of good and evil.
- So church, good, must be
a place where you continually tell what is evil when no one else wants to
admit it.
- WRONG.
- God does not want us to
eat the knowledge of good and evil, but to eat LIFE.
- Jesus said, "My words are
LIFE," not "my words are the knowledge of good and evil."
You can go to many religious
gatherings and you will hear for the most part the knowledge of good and
evil.
- But LIFE is a strange thing.
- And I may be preaching
odd things to you, so you might imagine. But if you can rip the veil over
your heart and start getting changing light from Jesus, you will start seeing
this is precisely the truth!!!
- LIFE teaching is new territory
to anyone brought out of a lifetime of knowledge of good and evil.
But LIFE is such GOOD NEWS!
- Life says the BLOOD redeems
you.
- Not the good deeds you
have done.
Imagine EGYPT on the night of
the Passover, when the firstborn would die without the blood.
- The rich man says, "I am
wealthy and I can help God's cause and do MUCH 'GOOD', so God will see my
wealth and spare my son."
- The rich man's son died
that night.
- The good man's house, "God
sees my goodness, and surely he knows how much I do to help people. He will
save my son."
- The good man's son died
that night.
- The house of the faithless
Hebrew, "I am behind the walls of the house with blood on my doorway, but
what GOOD can that do me in the presence of death? I should run on over to
the GOOD man's house with my son and work with him, so God can see my "goodness"
and save my son, too."
- That faithless Hebrew's
son died that night.
ONLY THE BLOOD SAVED THE PEOPLE
- It had nothing to do with
our good or evil.
- All those who think the
above way are thinking in terms of good and evil.
- This is not going to help
anyone.
- We must stop thinking that
way, and start understanding grace.
THE BLOOD made the difference
between an empty heaven and a heaven filled with an innumerable amount of
people.
- ONLY THE BLOOD.
- God said, "WHEN I SEE THE
BLOOD, I will pass over you."
- Not "when I see your good
intentions to help with your riches, or your good deeds." NO!
- He wants to see you inside
depending upon nothing but the blood.
Ephe 1:6 To the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
- ONLY IN JESUS can
we be saved.
- LAMB'S BLOOD ON A DOOR
means GET IN (ENTER) THE LAMB, whose blood redeemed you.
- That is a way of saying,
DEPEND UPON NOTHING but the death of Jesus.
- You stand IN that alone.
- You throw out all knowledge
of good and evil and stand ON GRACE.
- You only think "CHRIST
IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY."
- Hope is nowhere else.
- Jesus was God's beloved
Son with whom he was wellpleased.
- That is the only place
where God's approval is .
- SO GET IN HIM.
- Nothing you do will move
God's eyes from Jesus to you.
- NOTHING.
- Only get inside Him!
Why does the bible list 34 things
that are mine in Romans 5-6 and yet I am not victorious?
- GRACE CANNOT WORK SO LONG
AS YOU THINK THE WAY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.
- Paul said "I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain" (Gal 2:21).
- YOU FRUSTRATE GRACE BY
THINKING WITH "KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL" TYPE THINKING.
- You have to start living
by the thinking of GRACE.
- Otherwise the devil will
say you did THIS BAD thing, and THAT bad thing, and did not do THIS GOOD thing.
- And you will try harder,
and mess up even more, because you are falling for his philosophy.
- Start depending upon GRACE.
- For one thing, you repent
and thank Jesus that BY THE BLOOD, you are forgiven.
- People pray repentance
and instead of leaving it with the blood having done the work, they get up
and try harder.
CHANGE YOUR THINKING OR STAY
OUT!
- The Holy Ghost is in you
and will not function properly so long as you think by the knowledge of good
and evil.
- You must start thinking
on GRACE -- on Jesus alone making you victorious...
- We hear someone say there
is victory in Jesus, and we go out and say, "Right on," and try to be stronger
in our own power. We try to do good.
- NO!!! We are supposed
to say, "Yes! So long as I keep realizing the only thing that makes me clean
is Jesus blood, and so long as I stand on that, and not try to ADD TO IT WITH
MY GOOD WORKS, I am alright and accepted by God. Because I have learned that
only in THE BELOVED am I accepted by God."
Most know nothing about grace
except grace saves from hell and gets you ready for heaven.
- THAT IS ALL THEY KNOW.
- KEEP YOUR MIND ON HOW BAD
YOU DO THINGS AND YOU WILL KEEP DOING BAD.
- KEEP YOUR MIND ON HOW GREAT
GOD'S GRACE IS TO EMPOWER YOU WITHOUT YOUR WORKS OF GOODNESS AND EFFORTS,
AND YOU WILL BEAM IN ON GRACE AND NOTHING BUT GRACE.
2Cor 10:5 Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
- CHANGE YOUR MIND OR STAY
OUT, ADAM.
- BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING
OF YOUR MIND.
- "Don't I need to know good
and evil?"
1Cor 2:2 For I determined not
to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.